TC 23: A Hero Falls
by Tegan's Muse
Summary: An unseen person follows SG1 home.
1. Prologue

**The Tegan Chronicles**

**A ****Hero ****Falls**

**Prologue**

Tegan glanced up as Janet walked into her lab. "Hi."

She buried her head back in the microscope looking at the beetle like specimen she'd just put under it. She felt Janet walk up behind her and frowned, wondering briefly why she hadn't returned the greeting.

"Slut," Janet hissed. Her breath warm in Tegan's ear.

"What?" Tegan straightened up.

"You heard me." Janet turned and leaned up against the counter. "Who are you sleeping with?"

"No…" Tegan looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "No one."

"Prove it." Janet held out a sealed envelope. "Tonight, 1900 hours. Don't be late."

"I've got –"

"Prove it." Janet's command interrupted her excuses before she turned and walked out.

Tegan looked down at the envelope and took a deep breath as she tore the side open. She blew in it and dumped the contents in her hand. A Hampton Inn key card, with a post-it note stuck to it. The post note gave the street address and room number. Tegan shook her head a small grin pulling at her lips, she hoped this was another of Janet's games.

That evening Tegan inhaled deeply as she slid the card into the slot. The green light blinked and she heard the lock slide free. She pushed the handle down and walked in almost tripping over her jaw as the door swung shut behind her.

Janet sat on one of the plush chairs opposite the entrance in a black leather corset, matching boots that stopped mid thigh, and a riding crop in her hand. Her legs were spread revealing her wetness. She smiled seeing where Tegan's eyes had stopped and closed her legs. "Who are you sleeping with?"

"I told you earlier, no one." Tegan closed her mouth as Janet stood.  
"Wrong!" Janet smacked the riding crop against the bed causing Tegan to jump, more from being startled than actual fear. "You're never home when I call you even at midnight, you don't answer your cell phone, and don't even think of telling me you've been sleeping on base."

"I've been…"

"I don't want your excuses slut, tell me who she is." Janet stepped forward and tapped the ridding crop against the denim hugging Tegan's thigh.

"There's only you." Tegan looked into those chocolate irises, not entirely sure what answer Janet wanted.

Janet slid her hand inside Tegan's brown leather coat, brushing her knuckles across her breasts. "Do you need a safe word?"

Tegan shook her head no.

"Are you sure, because I'm only going to offer it once?"

Tegan nodded.

Janet pointed to the bed with her crop. "Sit."

Tegan did as she was told noticing for the first time the satin rope lying on the opposite bed. She swallowed.

"Damn it." Janet heard the trill seconds before Tegan did. She knew from the ring tone it was important.

Tegan looked apologetically as she reached into her pocket and removed the offending object.

"Kiser." She listened to the other end. "Yes sir, I'll be right in."

Janet watched her re-pocket the phone, and was actually glad they hadn't gotten any further.

"I've got to go."

"I know."

"SG4 was supposed to return at 1600 hours, and General Hammond wants us to head up the search team, ASAP."

"Duty calls." Janet watched her stand up.

"I wish it didn't." Tegan wrapped her arms around her bare shoulders and kissed her deeply.

"Tegan." Janet put her hand on her arm as she turned.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"And here I thought I was just your bitch." Tegan winked.

"Never."

Tegan pointed at Janet and then laid her right hand over her own heart and tapped her chest twice with her index and middle fingers. "Yours."

"Be careful." She watched the door close leaving her alone in the room. So much for her plans, she sighed.


	2. Missing

The Tegan Chronicles

A Hero Falls 1

Missing

"Teal'c?"

He shook his head, an almost imperceptible no.

"Sam?"

Her head shake was more noticeable.

Tegan's finger tightened on the trigger as she swept the area. An entire SG team had been lost here. Lost, probably dead. They'd been MIA for four weeks, four whole weeks. SG1 had been back to the planet eight times in the interim. Nothing, not a single shell casing, boot print, nothing to indicate they'd ever been there.

"Kiser?"

She looked at her CO, Jack was eyeing her. She shrugged.

Daniel knew what she was thinking. She only said Teal'c and Sam's name with that particular questioning tone when she was feeling something. One thing.

Tegan looked over her shoulder, shuddered and let out an immeasurable breath that hung in a cloud of fog in front of her for several minutes before dissipating.

Jack looked around, his own P-90 at the ready. He didn't like the vibe radiating off her. He didn't like the way the greens were dancing in her eyes, like they were a living entity all their own. Alert to the dangers that awaited them, they shifted like camouflaged warriors in a forest.

Sam reached out, pausing millimeters from Tegan's back. She could feel the tension without touching. Even though it was blocked from sight by her field jacket and Alice Vest, she could see the muscles rippling under flesh like the marble of a Michelangelo statue. "There's nothing here."

Tegan turned and whispered, "She's here."

There was only one 'she' to which Tegan would refer to this way. Teal'c spoke in a normal voice. "I do not sense her."

Tegan swallowed visibly, as Sam again shook her head.

"Is it possible…" Daniel looked around, the planet was lifeless. "That she's found a way to cloak more than just her body?"

"What?" Jack looked at him like he was speaking another language, only this time he wasn't.

"You know, a way to keep Teal'c and Sam from detecting her presence?"

"Then why would Tegan still pick up on it?" Jack looked at her eyes, he normally could get lost in those eyes. Today they scared him, and not just in a way that made him uneasy. No today, at that very moment, he could actually feel his testicles retracting from the fear.

"She's got two different kinds of Naquada in her system, not to mention a double dose."

"Ok." Jack nodded. "Carter?"  
"I guess, its possible sir."

Tegan's erect body straightened even more, her jaw tensing. She shivered but not from the cold. She swung around holding her P-90 out, she'd expected to see it bounce off an unseen force. When it didn't she blushed lightly.

"A little jumpy there Kiser?"

She shook her head slightly, her eyes blinking. She'd felt it, what exactly she couldn't be sure; a finger tracing along her jaw, from front to back, light like a lover's touch. Her stomach clenched.

"We'll call ahead and get the T.E.R.s in the gate room. If she's dumb enough to follow us through, we'll see her." Jack hoped the threat was enough to keep the Goa'uld from following them.

Tegan nodded.

"Alright, let's head out." Jack looked around one more time avoiding Tegan's eyes.

"Sir?"

"We're not giving up on finding them Carter, we just need to head back to base and re-group."

"We're not picking up any life signs on the planet." Sam reminded.

"So we just give up?" He knew her better than that.

"Of course not, sir." She looked at her boots for a second. "I'm just not sure why we keep coming back here."

Jack shook his head, maybe it was time to let someone else take over search and rescue for SG4.

Once the iris slid back into place and the security team had done a sweep of the entire room with the T.E.R.s and found it clear General Hammond spoke into the microphone from the control room. "Want to tell me what that was about Colonel?"

"Just a precaution sir."

"Re'tu?"

"No sir, thought maybe we were being trailed by a cloaked Goa'uld." He pulled his army green baseball cap off and glanced at Tegan. Her eyes drew him in. "Kiser?"

She looked at Sam and Teal'c before looking back at him. "Can't shake the feeling sir."

"Sir?" Sam spoke up looking at General Hammond. "Before we clear the room, can we get Shadow in here?"

"I assume someone will explain all this to me when we debrief?" He nodded to Walter who was manning the control panel.

He'd never paged a dog to the gate room, and hoped whoever happened to be handling him today would get the page. "Shadow to the gate room, Shadow to the gate room."

The door to the right slid open and in walked Shadow and the airman who'd just been about to take him for a walk. Shadow looked around the room his eyes landing on Tegan. His tail started wagging and he pulled against the leash.

"It's clear." She sighed and glanced uneasily around her once more before unclipping her P-90 from her Alice vest.

"Ma'am?" The airman holding Shadow questioned.

"You can let him off his leash."

"Yes ma'am."

Shadow ran up the ramp and stopped at Tegan's feet sitting. He waited patiently for her to scratch him behind the ears. "Alright, back to work boy, or whatever it was you were doing."

General Hammond looked down as she straightened back up. "I'd like to debrief now, Colonel."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Janet stepped around the curtain and forced a smile. "How are you feeling?"

Tegan looked at her for a full minute while contemplating her answer. The compulsory smile let her know what answer Janet expected. "Like I've got a Goa'uld following me around."

Janet stiffened. Jack had told her, but she hadn't presumed Tegan would be forthcoming. "I heard."

"Yeah, Colonel O'Neill is horrible with secrets." It was meant to be a joke but neither woman smiled. "Why am I here?"

"Post mission physical, it's routine." Janet's brow creased.

"We've been on this world what eight, nine times. We haven't seen another living being, we haven't come into contact with anything more than air, trees, grass, and a few rocks."

"You said you felt like you're being followed by a Goa'uld." Janet reminded lightly.

"So now I'm just crazy? You'll probably call Dr. McKenzie to come check me over and take me away in my very own white jacket."

"He's shinning up the buckles now." Janet touched Tegan's cheek and she jumped off the bed. "I was kidding."

"Something…" Tegan looked behind her. "Where's Shadow?"

"I assume he's still being walked." Janet looked at her quizzically. "Tegan?"

"It's nothing, my imagination I'm sure." She turned back to Janet. "Can we just get this over with, please. I've got stuff I need to do."

"Sure." Janet pulled her stethoscope out never taking her eyes off Tegan's face. Jack was right, there was something different about her eyes. Something Janet had never seen before.


	3. Vanishing Act

The Tegan Chronicles

A Hero Falls 2

Vanishing Act

Tegan was working with Shadow at her side, she'd found him as soon as Janet finished her post. She hadn't let him out of her sight since then, but he seemed un-phased by whatever presence she felt.

Janet watched Tegan on the monitor in her office. She was standing behind the island in her lab, her microscope on the work surface to the left of her. She kept glancing to Shadow who was sleeping, or pretending to, in his bed. He'd open his eyes halfway every time he felt her look his way. She'd never seen Tegan so jumpy. A piece of paper fell from the counter behind her and to the right. Tegan spun around so fast she looked like the Tasmanian devil. Janet sighed; maybe she was going to have to call McKenzie for a consult after all.

"Shit!" Tegan exclaimed as she spun around in time to see the paper actually land on the floor. The air conditioning unit on base hadn't kicked on, and even if it had those papers had been laying there for weeks undisturbed. "What the hell is going on?"

Shadow lifted his head.

"Who are you?" She asked the empty room. "Damn it Nirrti, show yourself you cowardice bitch."

Nothing, no movement, no sudden appearance of her arch nemesis, she felt stupid.

Something caressed her right breast, her nipple responded in kind pressing against the confines of her regulation bra and black t-shirt. She stepped back, her hips hitting the counter behind her. For a split second her mind thought of how much fun a cloaking device could be, but she had more important things on her mind, and getting turned on by an invisible force wasn't one of them. She reached out in front of her, nothing but air.

She turned back to her work, her muscles so tense she could feel individual fibers spasming. Something cupped the firm globes of her butt, and she closed her eyes. Janet had done that the morning after they'd gone back to her place for dessert. She'd had a mission to go on that morning, but as she stood in the kitchen wearing boxers and a t-shirt Janet had come in and placed one hand on each of her buttocks and squeezed. They'd been in the middle of passionate love making when the smoke alarm blared announcing the burning of the pancakes Tegan had started cooking.

The pressure continued and Tegan reached for her clipboard planning to swing it around and connect with who, or whatever was currently grabbing her ass. Her plan was interrupted by the Klaxons. "SG1 to the briefing room, SG1 to the briefing room."

The sensation was gone, but the memory remained. Unfortunately there was nothing she could do about it now. Tegan ran for the door, calling behind her. "Shadow, come."

General Hammond was already seated when she came in, Sam directly behind her. "Have a seat."

Tegan took a chair beside Sam her back to the window overlooking the Stargate. She pressed her fingers together. A hot breath blew across her neck from behind and she swiveled her chair to the right just as Jack and Daniel walked in. Teal'c was last to enter and paused briefly to look at Shadow who was standing at the entrance to the staircase leading to the gate room.

"We're calling off the search effort for SG4." General Hammond announced once everyone was seated.

"What happened to leave no one behind?" Daniel straightened his glasses.

"We're not leaving anyone behind son." General Hammond looked around the table and cleared his throat. "They are officially listed as killed in action." He threw up his hand forestalling any interruptions. "We just received word from the Tok'ra that Nirrti tortured them for the last three weeks before finally killing them."

Tegan looked down at her hands.

"How do they know?" Jack asked.

"They have an inside source." General Hammond confirmed.

"Someone planted in her ranks." Daniel mumbled as Tegan flattened her hands on the table pushing her self to her feet.

"Major Kiser?" Jack questioned before General Hammond could. She glanced at him, the greens in her eyes in constant motion. She was already heading down the stairs to the gate room before he finished her name.

Sam and Teal'c looked at each other as they heard the Stargate spinning. They jumped to their feet and saw Tegan slide through the blast doors just before they closed, almost catching her shoulder in the process.

"Show yourself Damn It!" She yelled. Shadow growled from where he stood in front of her.

The Stargate whooshed in front of her, illuminating the room in a bright flickering light. She felt the presence increase three fold and before she could comprehend what was happening Shadow took off, his paws never touched the bottom of the ramp, as the muscles in his haunches recoiled sending him through the air like a pinball. He stopped mid air, his jaws clamping on an invisible arm a tenth of a second passed in slow motion before his body was hurled across the room hitting the far wall with a sickening thud simultaneously with a high pitched yelp.

"Get the iris closed!" General Hammond ordered as Sam took the seat where Master Sergeant Penex had been sitting. Daniel was hovering over the man, a call for a medical team already resounding in the halls.

"I'm trying sir. We're locked out of the system." Sam continued typing.

"Then get the blast doors open." O'Neill looked down at the gate room as Shadow's body went flying.

"I can't." Sam continued working.

Tegan heard the sound, but she didn't move her eyes from her target. Invisible or not she knew where she was. She raced onto the ramp, as her foot hit the beginning of the ramp she propeled herself forward. She hadn't seen the event horizon ripple, so she'd either tackle the invisible cloaked Goa'uld, or she'd do a face plant on the ramp. She was already in the air, and turning to avoid a face plant would mean not tackling the Goa'uld. There was no turning back.

Sam looked up as Tegan went airborne, she was too thin to be a quarter back, but Sam knew she was capable of knocking someone twice her size down. Dana stood up a grim look on her face, she shook her head no to Daniel. Janet watched as Tegan was stopped with a ribbon of light. Instead of just falling on the ramp like a bird stopped in mid flight, her knees came down and she skidded across the ramp, her arms locking around something, air… no it flickered… a woman… Nirrti.

The ribbon device continued its assault on Tegan who refused to let go. Sam looked back down at the computer.

"How long has the wormhole been active?" General Hammond asked, seeing his most computer savvy Major wasn't going to be able to easily override whatever Nirrti had done to lock them out.

"Ten minutes, sir."

"She can't hold her that long." Jack shook his head. "Not without dieing in the process."

"Nirrti won't kill her." Daniel watched Teal'c slip out of the room.

"Where's he going?" General Hammond asked.

Jack shook his head and followed. He wasn't going to stand around and watch helplessly as Nirrti killed his friend.

"Argh! I'm not letting go." Tegan threatened. "You'll have to kill me to get out of here."

"Major Kiser, this is General Hammond." Several minutes had passed before he leaned forward speaking into the intercom between the rooms. "Let her go."

Tegan cried out in pain as blood began to ooze from her nose.

Nirrti turned off the cloak but persisted in her onslaught with the ribbon device.

"That's an order Major."

She held onto Nirrti's legs for another minute before she let her grasp weaken. Her strength was failing her and rather than having General Hammond court martial her dead body, she gave in.

Nirrti looked up at the balding man and smiled mirthlessly, before bending and grabbing a handful of Tegan's hair. "On your feet."

"If you're going to take me, you're going to have to drag me."

"Have it your way." Nirrti pushed Tegan's head to the ground and reached for her right arm that lay limply at her feet. She lifted it, and turned to face the Stargate. She tugged on her body pulling the dead weight of Tegan a foot up the ramp. She pulled again and a shot rang out, the bullet tearing through the flesh of Nirrti's right forearm. Tegan's hand slid from her grip and she looked to the six inch opening of the blast doors before turning and taking three steps before disappearing through the Stargate.


	4. Purple Heart

The Tegan Chronicles

A Hero Falls 3

Purple Heart

By the time they got the door open and Janet made it into the gate room Tegan was standing up and pushing Jack aside as she spotted Shadow lying in a motionless heap by the wall.

"Shadow?" She fell to her knees in front of him. "Come on boy, you're ok!"

She gingerly stroked his head eliciting a quiet whimper. Carefully she slipped her arms under him ignoring the blood from her nose as it trekked over her lips and occasionally dripped off her chin. "It's ok boy. You're going to be ok."

"Tegan," Janet interrupted her soothing mantra to the dog.

"He needs to go to CT." Tegan continued to move towards the exit.

"Major." General Hammond stood in her way.

"He needs to be treated."

"Very well." He turned to Sam and Jack. "I want to know how she is able to dial out."

Tegan looked over the results of Shadow's CT scan. His spinal cord was severed in two places from the impact. Several vertebrae were shattered. It was amazing he was still breathing. She rubbed his ears and he looked sadly into her eyes. "I know boy. I'll take care of you."

Sam and Dana watched from across the infirmary as Janet made her way to the bed Shadow's lying on. "How bad is it?"

"I need a vial of Ketamine from the box." Tegan wiped absently at her nose the bleeding had all but stopped.

Janet nodded and disappeared for a few minutes, when she returned she was carrying the supplies Tegan would need. "If you'll tell me how much, I can do this for you."

"No." Tegan shook her head. "I can do this. I just need to be alone."

"I'll be across the infirmary if you need me." Janet pulled the privacy curtain around them before joining Dana and Sam.

"She needs to be checked over." Dana didn't want to think about what was happening behind the curtain.

"Yes she does." Janet sighed and looked into Sam's tear filled eyes. "But she needs to do this first."

"How's…" Jack stopped short as he saw the forlorn looks on their faces.

"Oh Colonel." Sam couldn't hold the tears at bay. "She's putting him to sleep."

"How did she escape Colonel?" Janet changed the subject as she continued to watch the movement of the curtain surrounding Tegan and Shadow.

"She killed Master Sergeant Penex and used his hand for the palm reader."

If she listened hard she could hear them talking about Nirrti outside as she drew up the amount of Ketamine she would need. "It's not going to hurt I promise."

She smiled sadly as his eyes watched her every move. "You're a hero you know, and I'll make sure you get your purple heart of valor."

She found a vein and effortlessly slid the needle in. "You're going to have so much fun now, you'll be with Corrye where you belong and you two can chase raccoons, and rabbits, and hopper frogs. All of that fun stuff. Everything is going to be ok."

She finished injecting the medication and pulled the needle out. She massaged his ears the way he liked and whispered in one of them; "We made quite a team you and I. Cassie is going to miss you. The whole base will miss you, me included."

She pressed her nose to his head and inhaled his scent. "I love you Shadow, and although I will miss you the most, I want you to run in those fields with Corrye. I love you."

She watched his chest rise and fall one last time, when she listened with her stethoscope there was no heartbeat. No longer afraid of hurting him, she picked him up and cradled him in her arms. Lacking the strength to stand, she slid down the wall until she was seated on the floor and brought her knees up hugging him and wrapping herself as small and as tightly around him as she could.

That's exactly how Janet found her an hour later when she pulled the curtain back. "Tegan, we need to check you out now."

Tegan's lips and nose were pressed into his wide forehead, her blood matting his fur. She didn't move, she just continued to hug him as tightly as she could.

"Can I be of assistance Dr. Fraiser?" Teal'c stepped up beside her.

"We need to get Shadow out of here, I need to examine her."

"We'll take care of it." Jack reassured stepping up to Tegan lining the toes of his boots up to hers. He crouched down. "Kiser, you need to let him go."

Jack turned back and looked at Teal'c. "Let Teal'c take him, he'll take good care of him."

Teal'c bent down and slid his arms under Shadow's limp body and waited a few minutes before Tegan relented and let go.

Janet watched as Jack lifted Tegan from the floor and carried her to another empty bed in the infirmary. She turned her head into Jack's shoulder and whispered. "I'm fine."

Jack nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Wasn't your fault." Her voice was low.

"If I would have listened to you."

She shook her head and suddenly realized he was cradling her in his arms. She cleared her throat with embarrassment. "I can walk."

Jack sat her on the bed. "I know you can Kiser."

"Colonel." She caught his attention as he moved away giving Janet room to do her exam.

"Yeah Kiser?" He turned looking into her eyes, the greens had finally settled into a sad subdued hue.

"Thanks."

"For?" He cocked his head slightly to the side.

"For not letting her take me."

"I just wish I could have aimed a little higher." He'd done the best he could from his vantage point.

"It's ok, we'll get her." Tegan promised, a hint of vengeance in her voice.

"Colonel?"

"I'll leave you to it Doc." He nodded once at Tegan.

Janet sighed and reached up to the large red spot on Tegan's forehead. She didn't have to touch it to feel the heat. She moved her hand to the side and ran her thumb over Tegan's temple. "Head hurt?"

"He's gone… he's really gone."

"I know hun."

Tegan couldn't remember Janet ever calling her that, or really using any sentiment. She wasn't sure she wanted her to start now out of sympathy for her loss.

"Sorry, southern roots." Janet pulled her pen light out and saw Tegan instinctively squint. "Guess that answers that."

She dropped the light back in her lab coat pocket. "I want to give you something to help you rest, keep you here tonight."

"I, I don't want to…" She looked around the infirmary and leaned forward before whispering. "I don't want to be alone."

Janet nodded. "You don't have to be. I can stay."

"Thanks."


End file.
